ST. LOUIS—The deputy assessor for the City of Saint Louis, Shawn Ordway, shared preliminary data with Spectrum News showing one-third of taxable, residential parcels in the city increased in value by more than 15%.

By Missouri Law, the assessor is required to notify the landowners of the change in value when it’s 15% or greater. Of the 107,249 parcels in the city, Ordway said 36,176 increased in value.

What You Need To Know

  • The deputy assessor for the City of Saint Louis shared preliminary data with Spectrum News

  • It showed that one-third of taxable, residential parcels in the city increased in value by more than fifteen percent legally obligating the assessor to notify the landowners of the change

  • Assessors deemed fourteen neighborhoods under-assessed because of lower sales ratios in comparison to the rest of the city, most of which are in the southeastern Saint Louis

  • Official change of assessments will be mailed out in May along with 20-24 and 20-25 tax information and instructions on the appeals process

The total assessed value of the 107,249 parcels was little more than $2.775 billion in 2024, but rose collectively by 15.4% to over $3.2 billion.

Before the assessors determined property values for the 2025 reassessment, they spent 18 months performing 10,000 parcel-by-parcel reviews of 14 areas.

City assessors deemed 14 out of 163 assessment neighborhoods were under assessed because of lower sales ratios in comparison to the rest of the city. This led to 9,495 properties within those 14 under-assessed areas increasing in value by more than 15%. Most of these properties are in the southeastern portion of St. Louis, in parts of Wards 1, 3, 7 and 8.

Official change of assessments will be mailed out in May along with 20-24 and 20-25 tax information and instructions on the appeals process.

While the sudden jump in value may take owners by surprise, Ordway stated there isn’t a way around it.

“We are always concerned about impacts of assessments,” said Ordway. “Constitutional and statutory requirements make the job difficult as there is not a lot of discretion on how to deal with properties that need to be caught up.” 

In the first week of May, the city will send to property owners the official Change of Assessment notices, which shows the parcel value change from 2024 to 2025. This is sent out to all property owners regardless of large or minor value changes. Also, the city will send the 2024 taxes and an estimate of the 2025 taxes with information on tax rates and instructions on the appeals process. The appeals process plays out from May through August.